Christopher Allen Prize for Writing Winners
- Press Release for Christopher Allen Prize for Writing -
December 23, 2021 - Christopher’s birthday.
The judges of the inaugural competition for the Christopher Allen Prize for Writing, a competition for secondary school students of South Sudanese descent, are pleased to announce that the winner and recipients of honorable mentions have been selected and notified of their success. We received many entries to this competition and each was meritorious. The stories were moving, poignant and honest and we hope to share these with the world in the future. This Award honors Christopher's love of words and his generosity in supporting others to develop their writing and storytelling skills. As such, the winner will receive tools for their craft, visibility for their work and a contribution to their education and professional development.
The three finalists have asked to remain anonymous for fear of their safety, consequently their names will not be released to the public.
The winning essays focused on the issues faced by South Sudan and were particularly concerned with displacement, access to education, tribal conflict, police corruption and gender inequality. The winning essays will be published in the coming months.
Christopher Allen was a British American journalist who went to South Sudan to report on the conflict in that region. Chris loved stories. As a child, he loved telling them, hearing them and reading them. As a journalist, he sought to write some of the world’s untold stories and he was uncompromising in his search for truth. Christopher was targeted by government forces and killed in Kaya, South Sudan on 26 August, 2017. Up until the end of his short life, Chris was committed to telling the stories of lives in under- reported corners of the world.
The winners of this competition were found to share Christopher’s same urgency for truth. It is our hope that these winners and entrants will help to fill the void left by the loss of reporters like Christopher Allen and others whose voices have been silenced.
www.christopherallen.org/prize
- END -